Woman allegedly uses car test drive to rob bank

The Manteca Bulletin first reported that Gail Castle asked to take the 1987 Chrysler 5th Avenue for a test drive but that the owner, who asked to remain anonymous, insisted on coming along for the ride.

A few blocks into the ride, Castle allegedly asked the man to pull over to a nearby Bank of America so she could withdraw the necessary funds to pay him the $2,200 asking price for the vehicle.

She reportedly emerged a few minutes later, “flashing him a purse stuffed with bills,” according to local Fox affiliate KTXL.

Castle, 51, reportedly handed the Bank of America teller a note reading, “This is a robbery and I don’t want anybody to get hurt.”

“I turned my left signal the other side of the crosswalk here, and that’s when the sirens went off. I thought, ‘What in the world is going on,’” the man told the station.

The police, who were not aware at the time that the man was not involved in the crime, then ordered him to step out from his vehicle. That’s when Castle reportedly threatened to shoot the man if he complied with the authorities.

"I thought I’d rather take a chance on her shooting me in the back,” the man told KTXL, explaining why he chose to get out of the car. Thankfully, police say Castle didn’t actually have a firearm in her possession.

Interestingly, while the man did not want to be identified in the story, Castle reportedly asked the Bulletin to interview her after her arrest.

Site Links

About

With the purpose of writing about true crime in an authoritative, fact-based manner, veteran journalists J. J. Maloney and J. Patrick O’Connor launched Crime Magazine in November of 1998. Their goal was to cover all aspects of true crime: Read More